章節 5: On the pursuit of answers (Lucifer's POV)

Life on the outside wasn't all different from what I had expected. Everyone went about their lives, like little busy worker ants without the slightest notice that a deity was among their midst. Not a single person paid attention to me, aside from Tony, the assistant. But that was the least of my worries for sure.

"So, where are we off to now?" I asked Tony.

"To the facility, let's take a taxi," Tony replied then stretched his hand to call a taxi. The vehicle came to a halt in front of us as the wind wheezed past our faces. Tony opened the door and we both got in.

"Collingwood and fifth please," Tony said to the dark-skinned driver wearing a black bicycle hat.

The driver didn't say a word as he drove steadily to our destination, where he stepped on the brakes for the first time since he pulled up in front of us.

"Are we there yet?" I asked, peering out the window. We were now away from the heart of the city to a cooler but yet busy region with lesser tall buildings and a wider landscape

"Yes," Tony said to me. "You really don't remember anything, do you?"

I chose to ignore his question and stepped out of the car. Tony dipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out notes which he handed to the driver before emerging from the vehicle.

The taxi zoomed off and Tony was standing beside me as I tried to soak in the new scenery. It was much windier and I could hear construction sounds all around. More importantly, I could see a vast pile of remains from a recently collapsed building, opposite where we stood. A couple of men were at work with their caterpillars, loading off large blocks and boulders into trucks.

"I'm guessing this is where the fake experiment happened," I said feeling blank. A part of me would have been glad gazing at this amount of destruction but it wasn't marveling knowing I was affected for some reason.

"Yes, that is the facility, or what used to be the facility anyway," Tony replied.

I maintained my rigid expression. I couldn't sense anything out of the ordinary. Everything appeared to be a result of a normal explosion; no supernatural force was involved in this. So why was I here?

I uttered a grunt at the question. When it came to the supernatural, things aren't as simple as they may appear. Maybe I had to look deeper.

"Come on, show me everything," I demanded, giving Tony a pat which pushed him slightly forward as we crossed the road.

"So uhm, this was the entrance," Tony said at the beginning. "Where we check-in and all; not really important," He said after studying the disapproving expression on my face. "I will move on now... over there was the control tower," He pointed at what used to be the main structure of the facility but now had nothing but half walls standing, everything else was buried in the center.

"I can bet they're still fishing bodies out of there," I said as we both stared at a caterpillar attempting to dig through the pile.

Tony became silent all of a sudden. I looked at him and noticed that his skin had turned cold and I knew immediately that it was because of the statement I made.

I touched his shoulder. "Listen to me, you're alive and there's no need for you to feel sorry for yourself. All those that died didn't have what you have-- you had luck and you had me, of course." I added.

Tony smiled. "Thanks, boss." He replied and straightened himself as we moved on. "The chamber is over there."

We walked towards where Tony had pointed and stopped. Before us was a wide trench as a result of an explosion.

"And where did you say this machine that exploded was? This reactor?" I asked him, looking into the depth that was before us.

"Just at the center of the cave in," He pointed.

"Okay, wait here."

"Uh?" His face folded up in confusion but I didn't bother to respond as I jumped into the trench and landed on both my feet.

"Oh my God!" Tony shouted in shock. "Are you okay?"

"Of course, I am." I grinned, shaking off dust particles off my jacket. "I'll be out soon," I added then began marching over irregular slabs of concrete and gravel.

"Be careful down there." Tony's voice echoed but a sneer was my only response. Who did he think I was, a simple human doctor?

I scoffed at my answer. The sooner I find out what happened and leave here, the better.

I got to the center of the trench but all I could still see were big fragments of concrete in front of me. I still couldn't sense a thing. I had to go deeper.

Fingers locked and knuckles cracked, slowly, I started lifting the concrete one by one and dropping them aside, grunting with every grip as my muscles tensed.

"Boss, what's going on down there?"

I ignored Tony, digging deeper until I started seeing pieces of what could be called a machine scattered all over compelling me to pause to examine what new mysteries this could uncover but still nothing.

What was I missing? I questioned, completely baffled. Surely there must be something. Maybe I wasn't being perceptive enough. Or maybe this body was in was somehow interfering with my sixth sense and connection to the supernatural.

I quickly dismissed that thought and focused on finding clues, surely there had to be answers close and as I strained to listen in full concentration, I picked up a voice. This wasn't that of a demon or any supernatural entity, but of a human standing some distance away from where I stood.

"Don't you worry sir, it's been taken care of, and all traces of your involvement in the explosion have been wiped off."

Immediately, I jumped out of the trench with catlike agility and scanned through the area for the voice, and then my eyes caught him. It was a man, tall and slightly built, wearing a cheap suit. He stood alone, making a phone call.

"Wow, how did you jump like that?" Tony asked in awe.

"Shh, that guy knows what happened," I said to him as I studied our new fella.

Tony gulped. "He looks scary, boss. What are we going to do?"

I grinned. "We are going to have a little chat... hey you!" I called as I walked up to him, Tony followed cowardly behind me.

The man turned towards us with a glare on his face. I could notice an ugly scar right across his nose.

"What do you want punk?"

"Who do you work for? What demon do you serve?"

"What?" He looked puzzled.

"Why did you sabotage the project and summon me here? How were you able to pull it off?"

"Who the fuck are you?" He frowned.

Without any hesitation, I grabbed him by the collar and punched him across the bridge of his nose.

"Shit!" He coughed as blood trickled down his face. He tried responding with a punch of his own which I already anticipated and caught his fist with my hand, squeezed hard till I heard a cracking sound. He grimaced and yelled in pain as I squeezed harder and smirked. Meanwhile, Tony was watching in utter disbelief, his legs trembling with shock.

"Please, stop." The not-so-scary man begged. "Somebody help!" He shouted but the trucks and caterpillars drowned his cries.

With a hand around his neck, I raised him. I could tell Tony's jaw dropped at the freakish strength I was displaying.

"I'm only going to ask this once in a language that punks like you understand, who hired you?"

"It-it was--"

"Stop!" Tony yelled. "You're choking him."

Just then, I realized the upended guy's inability to say anything was because of the difficulty he had in breathing. I didn't know I had applied much more pressure than I wanted to. I slowly released my grip on his neck but by then it was too late, he already passed out. He slumped to the ground immediately I let go.

"Fuck!" Tony yelled with both hands on his head.

"Oh well," I said, letting out a sigh. "Relax, he isn't dead, he's just sleeping," I reassured Tony who was still shaking.

I wasn't done yet.

I bent down and searched through the man's pocket, pulling out his phone. I tossed it over to Tony who almost dropped it as he fumbled trying to catch it.

"You know how to operate this right? Dial the last number our fella here called."

Tony did as he was told said. It rang for a few seconds and then the receiver picked.

"Hello,"

Tony and I recognized the voice immediately.

"Dr. Cortez--" Tony said then covered his mouth in shock.

"That bastard!" I roared.

"Hello, Skullz are you there?" He said for a while and hung up.

I should have known. Dr. Cortez had a cynical look on his face that I knew all too well. And I was too slow to notice.

"So he was behind all this," Tony said out loud. "We have to go to the cops!"

"No, I'm going to make that prick wish he was in hell!"

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